The Data Center Conversation America Needs To Have

For decades, Americans have been told that “the cloud” is something invisible — a magical place where photographs, emails, financial records and now artificial intelligence simply exist.

Unfortunately, the truth is considerably less romantic. The cloud has an address and that address is a neighborhood.

Across Virginia and around the nation, enormous data centers are being constructed just yards from homes, schools, parks and churches. These warehouse-sized facilities power everything from online banking and Netflix to ChatGPT and national security operations. They have become essential infrastructure in the digital economy.

Yet as their numbers grow, so too does a difficult question: can communities support America’s digital future without sacrificing the health and quality of life of the people who live beside it?

The answer depends largely upon whom you ask. To make a case for data centers, supporters argue that data centers are as essential. They create construction jobs, generate substantial local tax revenue and attract technology investment. Local governments often point to millions of dollars that help fund schools, roads, emergency services and public programs.

Unlike factories, data centers generally produce little traffic, once operational and employ relatively few workers on-site. Many also invest heavily in cybersecurity, renewable energy agreements and energy-efficient cooling technologies. For communities seeking economic development without heavy manufacturing, they can appear to be an attractive compromise.

If the emphasis is on economic development without heavy traffic and heavy manufacturing, then, why are residents concerned? Residents frequently describe learning about projects only after major planning decisions have already been made. Community meetings sometimes become emotional as citizens question whether their concerns were considered early enough.